A relative may have killed the 45-year-old woman who was found with her throat slit at her Jogeshwari (West) residence on Sunday, the Oshiwara police suspect.

A relative may have killed the 45-year-old woman who was found with her throat slit at her Jogeshwari (West) residence on Sunday, the Oshiwara police suspect.

According to the police, the deceased, Asma Mustafa Umba, lived with her son Muzahir, 17, and stepson Mubarak, 18, at Ajay building in Behrambaug. However, her other stepson, Mussadik, 22, lived away from the family in Nalasopara.

Also, Asma and her husband Mustafa, 48, had been fighting a lot. Hence, for the past eight months, he was having his meals and sleeping at his workplace in Bandra, the police said.

“As nobody saw a stranger go into the house, we suspect someone from the family could have killed Asma,” said an officer from Oshiwara police station.

Hinting at the strained relationship she shared with her stepson and husband, the officer said, “While the woman was very close to her younger stepson, the same was not true for Mussadik. Also, she and her husband were having major fights for the past year.”

The police said they were interrogating the woman’s husband and her three sons to get leads in the case.

“In his statement, Mustafa said Asma was not very fond of him and that they had several arguments in the past over his work timings. That is why he avoided going home and spent most of his time outside,” said the officer.

The police said Asma was Mustafa’s second wife and the couple had been married for two decades.

On Sunday morning, Mubarak left the house for some work while around 11.30 am Muzahir left the house to play in the building. When the latter returned home an hour later, he found his mother in a pool of blood. The police said Muzahir informed the neighbours, following which the woman was rushed to Cooper hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival.

The police have registered a case under Indian Penal Code section 302 for murder against an unidentified person.